BoHo Theatre has announced its 16th season, featuring fresh looks at a pair of classic stories. BoHo's 2020 season will feature the musical FALSETTOS by William Finn and James Lapine, followed by Jeffrey Hatcher's new adaptation of Frederick Knott's riveting thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK. BoHo will also continue its partnership with Northwestern University's Next Step Program by staging a reading of a new play by student Nate Hollander.
In the first half of the year, BoHo will be focusing its efforts on seeking a new Executive Director following the departure of previous Executive Director Meg Love. Love had worked with BoHo since 2008, beginning as a stage manager before becoming a company member, production manager, and ultimately the Executive Director beginning in 2016. "I owe so much to my time with BoHo. I helped create impactful art and met people who have become my dearest friends," said Love. "I look forward to continuing my relationship with BoHo through guidance and consultation and being the biggest cheerleader I can be. I can't wait to see what BoHo does next!"" Love currently serves as Production Manager at Marriott Theatre and recently celebrated the birth of her son.
THE SEASON IN DEPTH
FALSETTOS
Book by William Finn and James Lapine
Music and lyrics by William Finn
Directed by Stephen Schellhardt
Aug 16 - Sept 27, 2020; Opening Night Aug 22
Greenhouse Theater Center, Downstairs Mainstage
Set in 1979, FALSETTOS is the story of a charming, intelligent, neurotic gay man named Marvin, his ex-wife, lover, about-to-be-Bar-Mitzvahed son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. Marvin shattered his family when he left his wife Trina to be with his male lover, Whizzer. But when Trina announces her engagement to Marvin's therapist, Marvin has a meltdown that leaves him estranged from everyone in his life except perhaps his son, Jason, who is caught in the middle of the family tug-of-war.
When Marvin is reunited with Whizzer two years later, his lover's sudden AIDS diagnosis throws the entire family into turmoil. On the eve of Jason's Bar Mitzvah, this family - non-traditional as it may be - must put aside their issues and unite.
FALSETTOS is a seamless pairing of Finn and Lapine's two acclaimed Off-Broadway musicals MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS and FALSETTOLAND, written nearly a decade apart. It received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score. "I have loved this musical for a long time," says Artistic Director
Stephen Schellhardt, who will direct the musical. "It's a story about making relationships work, despite the messiness of life and being human. I think BoHo is the perfect company to tell this story in an up-close, intimate staging."
WAIT UNTIL DARK
By Frederick Knott
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Director TBA
Oct 11 - Nov 15, 2020; Opening Night Oct 17
Greenhouse Theater Center, Upstairs Studio
Murder, secret identities, and a switchblade named Geraldine set the stage for this slow-burn thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. While abroad on business, Sam Hendrix unknowingly smuggles a peculiar doll filled with heroin back into the States with him. Hot on his trail is a trio of criminals and con-men looking to get rich from the heroin. They soon trace the doll to Sam's basement Greenwich Village apartment and his wife Susan, who was recently blinded in a car accident. When the three criminals attempt to infiltrate the apartment, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins. Susan knows the only way to play fair is by her rules, so when darkness falls, she finds the perfect way to turn the tables on her tormentors.
In 2013,
Jeffrey Hatcher adapted the classic 1966 nail-biter WAIT UNTIL DARK, streamlining the action and setting the play in a film noir 1940s setting. BoHo brings this new version to Chicago for the first time this fall. "Halloween is already a theatrical time," says Schellhardt, "so it's the perfect time for BoHo to present our intimate approach to this gripping, heart-stopping thriller."
NEXT STEP PROJECT Play Reading:
MARTHA AND STEPHEN AND CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE OF LOVE
By Nate Hollander
Monday, May 18, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Greenhouse Theater Center
BoHo is proud to again partner with
Northwestern University's Playwriting Program as part of its Next Step Project. This program pairs advanced undergraduate playwrights with professional Chicagoland theaters, who commission them to write a full-length play based a concept or idea provided by the theater. The theater then helps guide the crafting of the play, culminating in a public reading of the finished script.
Last year, BoHo worked with emerging playwright Madison Fiedler on a script inspired by the prompt "the pursuit of truth in a world increasingly hostile to truth." Out of that process came the play SPAY, about the effect of America's opioid epidemic in one small West Virginia town.SPAY will receive its world premiere at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in 2020.
This year, BoHo will work with another emerging playwright, Nate Hollander, on a dark comedy, currently titled MARTHA AND STEPHEN AND CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE OF LOVE. A reading of this work will take place on Monday, May 18th at The Greenhouse Theater Center and will be free and open to the public.
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